Catch share programs set a biologically based annual catch limit for a fish stock and allocate a specific portion of that catch limit to entities, such as commercial fishermen, cooperatives or communities. With their share secure, commercial fishermen can be more selective about how and when they catch their allotment. When designed correctly, catch share programs help eliminate the race to fish, reduce overcapacity and bycatch, and improve economic efficiency.

Unfortunately, in fisheries where there is a large and growing recreational sector, exclusive fishing rights proposals maximize benefits to the commercial fishing industry while ignoring the participation and beneficial economic impacts of recreational fishing.

"Catch shares are obviously a major focus for this Administration and we are concerned not only about the impact they have on recreational fisheries, but also at the pace with which they are being pushed into the management system. Catch shares are on a fast track and we don’t feel we have the luxury to ‘just say no’ – we’ve never chosen that option in any fisheries management crisis. We didn’t do that during the debate over marine protected areas or open-loop LNG terminals and we are not going to do it now. Catch shares are a real threat to the future of a number of recreational fisheries and they are not going to just go away anytime soon. We are going to stay very active on this issue to make sure recreational anglers are not left out of the debate…and out of the fishery."

Chester Brewer, Chairman
CCA National Government Relations Committee

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November 4, 2010
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration releases its
Catch Share Policy
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December 10, 2009
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration releases its
Draft Catch Share Policy.
Public comment period ended on April 10, 2010.

CCA News - Catch Shares

Legislators act to protect Gulf from catch share schemes - Nov. 9, 2011
Elected officials from the Gulf Coast and beyond are promoting a move to restrict funds for the development of new catch share programs for any fishery under the jurisdiction of the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council. In a letter to the leadership of the House Appropriations Committee this week, U.S. Representative Steve Southerland II (R-Fla.) and 24 co-signers are calling on Congress to continue to protect the Gulf of Mexico from “job-destroying” catch share programs.

Click HERE for a copy of Rep. Southerland's letter

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CCA rejects Gulf Council advisory panel recommendations - Oct. 27, 2011
In a letter to the chairman of the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council, Coastal Conservation Association is asking the Council to reject the recommendations of the Limited Access Privilege Program Advisory Panel (LAPP AP) and abandon consideration of sector separation and catch share experiments in Gulf reef fish fisheries.

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CCA Testimony on Sector Separation to Gulf Council - August 18, 2011
The primary concern that CCA has with sector separation is that taking fish from private boat anglers does not seem to provide any benefit for recreational anglers, the states, or for state budgets. I'd like to stress that we have no quarrel with the charter/for-hire sector - we see them as our partners and allies in recreational angling. We are concerned about pitting one group of anglers against another. We don't want to stand here and fight the charter/for-hire guys for days on the water down the road.

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Sector Separation – It’s OK to Throw Bad Ideas Away - July 21, 2011
Linus Pauling was an American chemist, biochemist, peace activist, author and educator. He was one of the most influential chemists in history and one of only four individuals to have won more than one Nobel Prize.
As far as I know, though, he never worked in fisheries management. He might not have liked to fish and possibly may not have even liked to eat fish. However, given his famous saying about ideas, we could certainly use him on the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council today.
“The way to get good ideas is to get lots of ideas,” Pauling once said, “and throw the bad ones away.”

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Federal insistence on catch shares for headboats outrages anglers - May 23, 2011 
In spite of opposition from governors, Congress and the vast majority of recreational anglers, NOAA Fisheries has unveiled a proposal for the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council to take red snapper from the private boat angling sector and give them away in a catch share program. This latest affront to anglers is outlined as an item on the Gulf Council’s June agenda calling for a closed-door session to appoint an advisory panel to make recommendations on a new headboat Individual Fishing Quota (IFQ) program.

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Sector Separation a Growing Threat to Recreational Red Snapper Season - April 13, 2011
More light is being shed on the negative impacts of separating the recreational angling sector into "private boat angler" and "charter/for-hire" segments during the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council meeting  this week in Alabama. Coastal Conservation Association has long opposed "sector separation" because it makes recreational anglers compete against each other at a time when there seem to be fewer and fewer opportunities for anglers to pursue fish offshore. That fear has been confirmed by an analysis conducted by the National Marine Fisheries Service that examined a variety of scenarios to determine what is likely to happen to the length of the recreational red snapper season if the sector is divided.

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South Atlantic Council Votes Down Catch Shares - March 11, 2011
Recreational anglers are applauding the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council’s decision today to “terminate all work relative to catch share development in Amendment 21,” the Comprehensive Catch Share Amendment. In a motion by Council member George Geiger of Florida, the Snapper Grouper Committee yesterday voted to remove catch shares from Amendment 21, setting up today’s action by the full Council. The decision is good news for recreational anglers who have been fighting the concept of catch shares as a one-size-fits-all solution to fishery management problems.

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Caught up in Catch Shares - Feb. 16, 2011
Much has been made about the catch share issue in recent months. Catch shares are a poorly understood issue that has been made more complicated by an absolute avalanche of mistruths, half-truths, and outright lies swirling about it in fishing chatrooms and blogs across the country.
Almost every facet of the past, present and future of catch shares has been grossly distorted.  A glance at the average chatroom would lead casual readers to believe that there is a vast, strange conspiracy linking all-powerful environmental groups with oil companies with “double-agents” posing as anglers to rid the world of fishermen.

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Recreational sector stands united against sector separation - Nov. 10, 2010
If the public comment period at the Sector Separation Workshop hosted by the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council is any indication, recreational anglers are united against any proposal to separate the recreational sector into for-hire/charter and private boat angler categories. The three-day workshop was put on by the Gulf Council this week ostensibly to help managers and stakeholders gain a better understanding of sector separation as a proposed management tool for recreational fisheries.

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Anglers Evaluate NOAA Catch Share Policy - Nov. 4, 2010
After months of intense debate, today’s official release of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrations’ (NOAA) Catch Share Policy provides recreational anglers with two key elements: a framework to redistribute the benefits of harvesting the nation’s marine resources; and a commitment that catch shares have no place as a management tool for private recreational anglers. Coordinated input from the angling community significantly altered aspects of the draft policy, particularly the process of allocating fisheries between sectors.  However the system of assigning fixed percentages of various fisheries to commercial interests remains a controversial management tool to recreational anglers.

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Testimony before the Subcommittee on Insular Affairs, Oceans and Wildlife Oversight Hearing, Committee on Natural Resources, United States House of Representatives - April 22, 2010
Today, Jeff Angers, president of the Center for Coastal Conservation delivered testimony on behalf of the Center for Coastal Conservation, American Sportfishing Association, Coastal Conservation Association, International Game Fish Association, National Marine Manufacturers Association and The Billfish Foundation.

In his testimony, Angers stated the groups have serious concerns about the potential impact of commercial catch shares on the recreational sector in mixed-use fisheries (in which there are both recreational and commercial components). Our organizations respectfully submit that the Draft Policy Catch Share Policy of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration under consideration lacks the necessary guidance to protect the recreational sector from adverse impacts associated with the implementation of a catch shares policy in mixed-use fisheries.

 

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Collaborative Letter on Reallocation in the Catch Share Policy - April 9, 2010
The final catch share policy should provide for reallocations and inter-sector trading that would, consistent with the requirements of the MSA, promote conservation and accountability. As proposed, the draft catch share policy was silent as to whether the Councils should consider out-of-date underlying allocations between sectors during the development phase of a new catch share plan. In short, the policy as proposed ignored the elephant in the room on inter-sector adjustments and left private anglers with little enthusiasm for supporting the implementation of new catch share plans.

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EDF raises stakes in catch share lawsuit - April 9, 2010
Seeking to defend a controversial catch share program for Gulf grouper, the Environmental Defense Fund has been allowed to intervene in a lawsuit filed by Coastal Conservation Association in federal district court that challenges the adoption and implementation of Amendment 29 to the Gulf of Mexico Reef Fish Management Plan.
“This was not wholly unexpected. After all, EDF has made a considerable investment in its efforts to enact catch share programs in fisheries throughout America so this lawsuit is clearly a threat to their program,” said Chester Brewer, chairman of the CCA National Government Relations Committee. “The intervention of EDF simply clarifies what is at stake for recreational fishermen, not just in the Gulf of Mexico, but everywhere in the country.”

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CCA hails breakthrough on catch share management
The language that was included in the bill was supported by CCA, the American Sportfishing Association and the Center for Coastal Conservation and requires the agency to report “how data collection for recreational catches will improve in fisheries where the commercial sector receives catch shares; and how allocation conflicts between recreational and commercial sectors will be resolved.” The report is to be provided to the House and Senate Committees on Appropriations.

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Thank you, Governors, from the members of CCA
Recently, CCA asked the Gulf state governors to voice their concerns over a rapidly expanding federal program for managing fisheries called a catch-share program, and Gov. Perry of Texas, Gov. Jindal of Louisiana, Gov. Barbour of Mississippi and Gov. Riley of Alabama responded by signing a letter to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke. The letter signed by the governors was a powerful gesture on behalf of recreational anglers, and recreational anglers have responded with an outpouring of appreciation for the leadership shown by the Gulf governors.

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CCA Press Release - October 22, 2009
Gulf Governors Stand Up for Recreational Angling
“We have already seen the negative impacts from the Gulf red snapper catch share system and are concerned about negative impacts from the pending program for Gulf grouper,” the governors’ letter stated. “Creating an exclusive harvesting right for a small group of commercial fishermen inherently marginalizes other users who do not have the same access privileges. In purely commercial fisheries this effect can have both economic and management benefits. But when applied in mixed-use fisheries, recreational anglers are forced to focus their efforts in limited state waters or not participate in the fishery at all. Neither of these outcomes is desirable."

Letter from the Gulf Governors to Secretary Locke.

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CCA Press release - October 13, 2009
Conservationists Encouraged by Fisheries Amendments
The pace and breadth of federal oceans and fisheries policies have caused apprehension in the angling community in recent months, but a pair of amendments to a Commerce-Justice-Science spending bill filed by Sen. David Vitter (R-La) last week signals that some elected officials are concerned as well. The amendments, proposed as part of spending bill HR 2847, would force the National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration to do new analyses of offshore fish farming and catch-share programs in federal fisheries.

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CCA Press release - September 28, 2009
CCA Files Lawsuit to Stop Gulf Grouper Giveaway
"In more than 30 years of practice in fisheries law, I have not seen a more arbitrary action than this one,” said Robert G. Hayes, CCA general counsel. CCA has asked for an expedited hearing and expects the government to answer the lawsuit within the next 60 days. “We are going to proceed as quickly as the court will allow to prevent the implementation of this egregious decision.”

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CCA Response to Houston Chronicle Editorial - September 15, 2009
Catch share programs that privatize public resources for the benefit of a handful of commercial fishermen are not examples of good stewardship, and they are hardly a model that should be employed in any other fishery. Maximizing public access to public marine resources and managing them in a way that both conserves the resource and delivers the greatest economic benefits to the nation is the proper way to steward our marine resources.

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CCA Press Release - August 31, 2009
NOAA Abandons Recreational Anglers
Approval of grouper giveaway pushes recreational anglers to the brink

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CCA Discussion Document Ends in Success - August 12, 2009
Controversial paper accomplished goal by shining light on red snapper management failures.

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CCA Press Release - August 7, 2009:
NOAA catch-share program threatens recreational angling
CCA questions federal program of resource giveaways.

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CCA Letter to Monica Medina, Head of the NOAA Catch Shares Task Force - August 6, 2009
"Simply put, CCA is opposed to the application of catch shares in purely recreational fisheries, agrees that there may some value in their use in purely commercial fisheries and has a number of grave concerns about their application in mixed-use fisheries."

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CCA Comments on Amendment 29 to the Gulf of Mexico Reef Fish Plan - submitted June 8, 2009
Adoption of any amendment must be supported by the record. Even initial decisions, like who can participate in the plan, have to be supported by an analysis of the existing data and the impacts of the decision. It is simply not adequate to conclude at the outset that only the commercial sector can have an ITQ. The agency’s total focus on the commercial sector of this fishery dooms this amendment from being legally sufficient.

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Briefing Packet on Catch Shares
In fisheries where there is a large and growing recreational sector, exclusive fishing rights proposals maximize benefits to the commercial fishing industry while ignoring the participation and beneficial economic impacts of recreational fishing.